Montreal Canadiens

Finally, some blog-worthy news to come out of the Montreal Canadiens' camp.
It was announced on Friday evening that the Montreal Canadiens have signed 1st round pick Louis Leblanc to a three-year contract. While terms of the contract were not released, you can expect it to hover around the league maximum for an entry-level contract.
The deal means that Leblanc will leave Harvard and his team, the Crimson, after only one year at the Ivy-league university, to come back to his hometown and play for the Montreal Junior of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. While he is eligible to play for the Hamilton Bulldogs, he will likely spend the season in the Q, in order to fill out his fram...

According to various sources, Maxim Lapierre has re-signed with the Montreal Canadiens for the upcoming season. His new, 1-year deal is slated to be worth between $840,000 and $900,000, depending on the source, but which ever number ends up becoming official, it would be a great figure for the 3rd line forward and for the Canadiens.
The deal will only slightly exceed the qualifying offer that Pierre Gauthier and the Canadiens were obliged to offer Lapierre before the start of free agency, at the end of June. As a matter of fact, Richard Labbé at La Presse is reporting that the issue was never the dollar amount for Lapierre, but the term on the contract. The Montreal native wanted to...

The St. Louis Blues have ensured that they will have a starting goaltender for the foreseeable future today, inking Jaroslav Halak to a 4-year, $15 million deal, which will average out to $3.75 million per season. Halak was acquired by the Blues from the Montreal Canadiens last month in exchange for prospects Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.
The deal raised many eyebrows, both in Montreal from fans and the media, as well as from pundits around the league. Coming off a career year, Halak was considered the major reason for the Canadiens post-season success and berth in the conference finals. Many regarded him as the better of the two goaltenders in Montreal, and considered trading one of t...

If you were a Habs fan on July 1st, then odds are you spent the day either drinking and celebrating Canada Day, or in front of your laptop, TV (tuned to TSN2) and/or cell phone, waiting for news of a big signing by Canadiens' General Manager Pierre Gauthier.
Odds are, when you put all that technology away, you were left feeling slightly disappointed.
Other than signing backup goaltender Alex Auld, signing newly acquired Dustin Boyd to a 1-year deal, and resigning Curtis Sanford to a two-way deal, there wasn't much Canadiens' fans could take away from their July 1st UFA Day experience. But should fans be upset or disappointed at the lack of activity from their general manager and te...

The Montreal Canadiens have traded problematic forward Sergei Kostitsyn to the Nashville Predators.
The deal is simply an exchange of pending free agents, as Montreal received center Dustin Boyd (RFA) and goaltender Dan Ellis (UFA) in return. Future Considerations are involved for both teams, presumably if any of the players end up signing or not.
The relationship between the Canadiens and Sergei Kostitsyn was always shaky. The troubled forward has consistently made headlines since his arrival in Montreal, for better or for worse, but mostly for worse. Whether it was calling out Canadiens GM last week over the Jaroslav Halak trade, not paying his dues at practice or just plain suc...

What was supposed to be a quiet week for the Montreal Canadiens started with somewhat of a bang, albeit a mini one. With only a few days to go until Free Agency this Thursday, Canadiens' GM was hard at work on this Monday, signing forwards Tom Pyatt and Benoit Pouliot to one year deals.
Pyatt, who played 40 games with the Canadiens in a checking role, will get paid a league-minimum $500,000 next year, but it is a one-way deal, implying that Pyatt will likely start the season in Montreal and not in Hamilton with the Bulldogs.
Pyatt fell into favor this season with coach Jacques Martin, thanks to his defensive style and grit, but that did not translate into much offensive productio...

Yes, it's that time of year again! Time to get revved up for the NHL draft! If these last two weeks have been any indication, then we should expect plenty of activity from GMs throughout the day, and of course this evening. TCL will of course be on top of it all, with our live chat commencing at 6:45PM eastern tonight (details can be found here).
Since the hammer dropped on Jaroslav Halak last Thursday, there has been much movement around the league, and it all leads into tonight's Draft. Here is a list of all the happenings of the last week, including many links, by the numbers:
- 2 top defensemen have announced their retirements. Rob Blake and Scott Neidermayer will not be retu...

For the first time in a long time, Montreal Canadiens' fans can actually relax heading into the Free Agent Frenzy of July 1st.
With a week left to go until this year's set of NHL contracts are due to expire, the job seems to be half done for GM Pierre Gauthier and the Montreal Canadiens. The goaltending controversy has seemingly been resolved, as Jaroslav Halak has been traded to the St. Louis Blues and the reigns of the organization have been handed to Carey Price.
The need to replenish the prospect ranks has been partially met with the acquisition of Lars Eller and Ian Schultz, and will be further met in two days at the draft, where the Canadiens will draft 27th overall.
And f...

According to various sources, the Montreal Canadiens have shipped goaltender Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues in return for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.
If you asked yourself ''who?'' when looking at that trade, well, you wouldn't be the only one.
Lars Eller looks like a decent prospect. Drafted 13th overall in the 2007 Entry Draft, Eller is a forward from Denmark (Really?). The 21 year old started his young career in Sweden before moving to Peoria this past season to play with the Rivermen of the AHL, where he accumulated 18 goals and 39 assists in 70 games. He also made his debut with the Blues, scoring 2 goals in 7 games.
Ian Schultz is a Right Winger from Calgary who h...

Yesterday, the Toronto Maple Leafs ended an entire season of speculation when they announced Dion Phaneuf as their new captain, the 18th in their long storied history.
The decision was generally met with approval from most Leafs fans. Phaneuf certainly represents the team that Brina Burke has built this far well, in terms of truculence, belligerence, hard work, and, of course, Canadiana (or I guess North-Americana, but anyway). From an outsider's perspective, or more specifically, a Montreal Canadiens perspective, I can't help but find ways to make fun of this decision.
This is the man that nearly cried in every interview he did after he was traded from the Flames to the Leafs thi...